Economic Development Week in Review: July 9 – July 13, 2018

Stay up-to-date on business and economic development happenings in the Capital Region with the CEG Economic Development Week in Review. Don’t miss out on the developments that are transforming the region by following us on:

“The Upstate Capital Association of New York says that there were 11 investment banking deals in the Capital Region during the second quarter of 2018 out of a total of 58 across upstate.

Located outside of Rochester, the Upstate Capital Association compiles the transaction data in cooperation with PitchBook, although they do not break down the transactions individually. The deals range from mergers to venture capital investing to leveraged buyouts.”

“Co-working and events across the hall from Stacks Espresso Bar’s coffee shop at 488 Broadway in Albany is now open.

CoLab opened its doors Friday and is free to the public this month while they “sort out some odds and ends,” they announced in an Instagram post. Manager Katie Mckenna told the Times Union “there is definitely a need for modern and exciting workspace options” in a February interview.”

“Ground clearing is expected to start this month on a $55.9 million, 149,000-square-foot corporate headquarters for financial services firm Ayco Co. now that the town of Colonie has approved the site plan and tax breaks for the developer.

“I’m very pleased,” said David Buicko, CEO of The Galesi Group, after the Colonie Industrial Development Agency voted unanimously Wednesday afternoon to award tax exemptions for the building on land that has been vacant for 20 years.”

“We were having a conversation the other day with someone about some of the things people who don’t live here — especially people from larger metros — might not understand or appreciate about the quality of life here.

And one thing that immediately sprang to mind: There are (relatively) good job opportunities in the Albany metro area, and the (relatively) low cost of living means you can live here (relatively) comfortably without having to scrape like you would in a lot of big/coastal metros.*”

“The city of Hudson will spend $10 million from New York state on 13 projects to rejuvenate its downtown.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the projects this week. The city of 6,400 people was the one chosen in the Capital Region, which had six downtowns competing for the state money from the 2017 Downtown Revitalization Initiative.”

One of those routes is CDTA’s BusPlus Red Line, as it’s called, the first of three bus rapid transit lines that feature limited stops, faster service and queue-jumping technology to give them priority over other traffic.”